Shamed US Diplomat Takes Cultural Awareness Training

Shamed US Diplomat Takes Cultural Awareness Training

A US diplomat is shame-faced as she has come under criticism following her comments about “dirty and dark” Tamils. The diplomat in question is Vice-Consul Maureen Chao who is posted at the Chennai Consulate.

After the embarrassment that her comments have caused she has now made a statement saying that she had enrolled herself on a cultural awareness course. The US government have made a statement to say that her comments are not in line with American core values and as a result they find them totally unacceptable. Maureen Chao apologised almost straight away for her comments but also felt the need to go on a course to give her a better understanding of other cultures. The comments came in a speech that she made last week in which she was recalling a train ride that she took around 20 years ago in India. She is quoted to have said: “I was on a 24-hour train trip from Delhi to Orissa,” the eastern Indian state, Chao continued, according to Agence-France Press. “But, after 72 hours, the train still did not reach the destination … and my skin became dirty and dark like the Tamilians.” The US Consulate commented on the speech saying that it was something inappropriate for a person in her position to say and Chennai officials wrote and asked for an official apology.